Day 10 - A Repeat, then a Reprieve

Monday, April 13th, 8:52pm - "This is Bob. (You'd think he'd know that I can figure that out by now ...) I am going to simultaneously talk into the phone and the recorder at the same time, so here goes. We are in the Sapphire Inn in Franklin, NC. I mentioned in yesterday's blurb that we were going to go to a shelter about 4 miles away from the road crossing and then do a nero to the crossing on Tuesday and take a shuttle to town.

Turns out that today was almost as completely miserable as it was on Easter Saturday. That day was really horrible and today was a Pete and Repeat (no offense to you personally, Pete) (none taken). It was a very misty, cold, nasty day with fabulous views of TOTAL GRAY. It did not get out of the 30's all day long. Unbelievable! But before I get into all of that ...

Last night we stayed in a shelter. there were 5 of us, so it was reasonably roomy. We knew 2 of the other 3, and met the third one. No one else came, which was amazing. Rain was predicted after midnight, and at 12:15 on the dime the skies opened up and it just poured. We had 3 sessions of extremely heavy rain with heavy wind blowing rain everywhere. We were in the shelter and still got misted because we are not completely under cover. But I am glad I was in the shelter and not the tent, because it came down in buckets.

This morning we woke up at 7 and it was blowing and nasty. We weren't going anywhere fast. Then, after about 30 minutes, we decided to get going. We packed up and checked our waterproofness (is that a word?). We left at 8:20. Rain was predicted all day, but in fact all we really got was tree drip - that condition where the trees themselves are colder than the air and the branches condense the water onto them, which then drop on us. It's not real rain - false rain or tree drip is what I call it. It was extremely windy and cold - we struggled all day.

We did have some interesting tic marks today. We passed the 100 mile point - only 2078 to go! The trail was very well graded with the exception of Albert Mountain which was insanely difficult. It was almost technical rock climbing - difficult enough in full packs, but even worse in full packs with mud and water on everything. Mark fell once, fortunately forward, with no ill effects. It was at least a 45 degree grade, maybe sharper. Took us a while to beat our way through that. Beyond that the trail was fairly well graded and we really ate up the ground today. I guess after 10 days on the trail we are finally getting trail hardened. At one point Mark measured our land speed at over 2.5 mph!

We had another little bit of Trail Magic at one of the gaps today. Someone had hiked in over two miles and hung plastic Easter eggs from the tree limbs using fishing line. In each one was candy, like a Hershey's bar or Sweet Tarts.It was great. Here you have a day that absolutely blows and you come across this. It had an amazing uplifting effect. Other hikers came by while we were there and they loved it to. After chatting, we pulled out and headed to the next shelter - the one 4 miles from the crossing. But there was a problem with the design of this shelter, because it opened to the west, not the east. All the other shelters opened to the east so their backs were to the west where most of the weather comes from. It was wet inside. We looked it over, and said, no, we don't think so. I headed 150 yards up the trail to get a cell signal and called a place in town. They were booked, but suggested the Sapphire Inn. We called there and got the last double. We arranged to be picked up - 5pm was the latest they could do. I hustled back to Mark and said 'Let's book!' We left at 2:45, making tracks for the crossing. We felt bad leaving the other people at the shelter, and left with apologies knowing they were going to spend another nasty night cold and wet and miserable. We decided to press on and gut out another 4 because we still felt pretty solid. We were cold and had put up with tree drip, walking in clouds and blowing wind all day. I was feeling slightly nauseous which is a danger sign for me personally. So we pounded out the last 4 miles of a 16 mile day (our longest yet). We only had one mountain to go over. We made the crossing by 4:15, covering 4 miles in about 1.5 hours. Called the lady and she agreed to come pick us up early - we had just caught her. She showed up at 4:35 in a tiny Ford Fiesta. In the meantime, another hiker had come down (John) and had called and got the last single at the Inn. He had thought about camping out, but bit the bullet and wanted to get warm. So here we were - three hikers and our gear all trying to fit into this Fiesta. It was tight. Mark and John had the packs on their laps, and I had her laundry on my lap. She took off down this Georgia mountain - oops, I mean North Carolina mountain (my faux pas) at about 70mph in this wildly overloaded Fiesta. It was a hair raising ride.

We got to the motel and hung out in the office for 45 minutes drying out while they cleaned our room. We watched the weather radar and saw that another line of storms was coming in tonight and again tomorrow. With that, we started planning for a zero day on Tuesday - essentially a day where we stay put. It will give us a chance to work out our aches and pains - we are both over 50, you know- and today was a haul. So the planned nero day becomes a zero day.

We hit the Mexican restaurant across the street called Mi Casa. It was a welcome full meal after skimpy rations for the last few days. Pushing ahead cost us time to eat so we skipped a few meals. Foolish on our part, but we didn't want to miss our ride and the hospitality of the person who was meeting us.

It's funny. Saturday sucked, Sunday was wonderful and today was horrible, but we have done 100+ miles (106.8, actually), had some great Trail Magic, and now have the chance to rest our aching bones. The day off will be good. We can't overreach early! By this time over 50% of the thru-hikers have dropped out. They just didn't know what they were getting into. Even Mark and I were surprised with the intensity of the hiking and the range of weather that we have seen. Our experience made the difference, but others don't have that luxury.

Tomorrow there is a free pancake breakfast in town at a local church for hikers. I'm sure we'll hit that! I'll send some pictures, and maybe I'll call you tomorrow, and maybe I won't!